The year 2021 has been a mixed bag of events. The way businesses function has slowly changed as every company around the world has adopted work-from-home. Online payments and home deliveries for almost every product have become the norm.
While some sectors such as fintech, online education, grocery, and healthcare saw a jump in demand, sectors like travel, hotel, and restaurant industry saw a slow revival in 2021 after a slump in 2020.
In this age and time when the world is trying to fight a deadly virus and its various mutations, the situation has given wings to industries and sectors that have been seeing muted growth.
If you are thinking of starting your own business in 2022 and are not sure which industry is more suitable for you, here are the three sectors that have grown this year.
Top 3 industries that emerged in 2021
We have laid down three business sectors that have grown this year due to various reasons and are set to blow up in the next year.
1. Direct to consumer
While stand-alone brands in niche categories have always been there, the industry rose exponentially in 2020-21. These companies have traditionally been teaming up with large online marketplaces to sell goods. The challenge with working with a third-party platform is engaging in tough negotiations and ultimately watering down your income in the form of platform charges, etc.
However, in the past few years, there has been a steady rise in online shopping. And with the Indian startup ecosystem maturing these brands have decided to launch their own websites.
The ones that already had an online presence increased their marketing spend in 2021 to reach more clients. And why not, there is a huge influx of VC investment in D2C brands in India. A Tracxn report said VC firms put in $500 million in 146 D2C brands between January 2020 and August this year.
If you plan to start a business in 2022, this is the right industry to get into as there are multiple sub-sectors and there is enough room for multiple brands to exist in one category.
Ways to get into D2C
- Identifying the domain: The first task at hand is to identify the top trends in the consumer segment. People’s requirements change with time and to flow with the wind you must know what it is that they are looking for. The key here is to identify products that have maximum demand.
- Pop-up shops: The next step is to make that product available at an affordable price. Before setting up an online store, you would want to test it first. Getting a place at pop-up stores is a great way to begin and see if people like your product.
- Market your product: Now that your product has clicked with customers you would like to get the word out so more people know about your new venture. Write blogs, get on Twitter and write mini threads on the industry your product is in, get mini-influencers to talk about it.
- Launch the website: There are a lot of CMS platforms that can help you with building your e-commerce platform in no time. Just choose the one you prefer and get started. Remember to find the right payment gateway for online payment collection.
Paytm Payment Gateway integrates with all the CMS platforms seamlessly. We give your customers the freedom to pay using all payment modes including debit card, credit card, net banking, UPI, e-wallet, and lending such as Paytm Postpaid.
In addition, D2C companies can leverage Paytm Startup Toolkit to fast-pace the launch of their e-commerce platform. Our startup toolkit can help D2C brands with a host of growth tools such as –
- Paytm Payouts: This offering not only streamlines all the payouts for a D2C startup, but it also allows businesses to send multiple payouts right from the dashboard
- Paytm Ads: Paytm ecosystem, which consists of Paytm Mall, Paytm Money, and the Paytm consumer app should be the go-to real-estate for D2C brands to target customers
- Paytm Mini Apps: D2C brands can increase their customer count by listing their app on our Paytm platform
- Paytm Payments Bank: A fully digital bank allows you to get started with all your banking needs without having to set foot in a bank ever
How to Get Started With D2C Business | |
| Find the right domain | Identify the pain point and offer the cheapest possible solution |
| Get pop-up shops | Validate your product by participating in multiple pop-up shops |
| Market the product | Get the word out about the launch of your product via social media channels |
| Create the e-commerce shop | Partner with a CMS platform and onboard a payment gateway to start your e-commerce venture |
2. Short online courses
The demand for online education hit the roof last year as schools and colleges had to shut due to Covid-19. While edtech startups enjoyed the attention they were getting from parents and students, the trend of online learning paved the path for another sector: bite-sized courses.
People had already gotten used to virtual learning and since edtech platforms were doing really well with onboarding school and college students, they opened up their platforms for short courses on anything and everything.
If you have deep knowledge and insights in a particular field, create a short course on it and ship them. Mini-courses are going to be the future of e-learning and the right to get on with it is now.
Ways to start mini-courses
- Decide the target audience: This is the most important stage as this will determine the topic you choose. Do you want to target professionals looking to upskill or go after casual learners who are ready to pay a small fee to learn how to solve a Rubick’s cube?
Find out what it is that you are really good at and passionately feel about. The topic need not be mainstream and can range from how to crack trigonometry, how to do belly dance, to poetry writing, and making origami. - Create a syllabus: Once you have decided on the course and the audience, read more about the topic you want to teach. Based on your further reading, create a short syllabus.
- Choose a medium: Depending on the course type and the audience you will have to decide whether the course is going to be a recorded video session, a live session or an e-book. This decision should largely be based on what you are going to teach and who you expect to take the course. Belly dancing can be taught better in the video format. Similarly, if you expect your audience to come from small cities live video sessions might not be feasible for them.
- Pricing: Now we come to the difficult part. How you want to price your course depends on a number of factors. Do you have more courses in the pipeline? If yes, you might want to put out the first course for a nominal fee or even free. Your popularity from the first class will get you more buyers for the next set of courses that you have planned.
If there is nothing in the pipeline, you should decide whether this will be a one-time fee or will be available for unlimited viewing later.
Cracking the Mini-course Business | |
| Target audience | Ascertain who the course is for and the value your course can add |
| Syllabus | Research on the topic and chart out a syllabus for the course |
| Medium | Choose whether your course will be a live video, recorded video, or a newsletter |
| Pricing | Think long-term before coming up with a price for your course |
Our payments link tool, which allows teachers to collect payment from one or multiple sources by just sending a link, is the best way to accept fees from users. You can use Paytm Payments Link for one-time fee collection or for recurring payments.
3. Gig economy
Right from content writers, software professionals to delivery persons, the gig economy has been fueling the needs of the industry.
While this space has been in the making for the last five years, this year the demand for gig employees in India was overwhelming. In a report, Assocham has projected that India’s gig economy would grow at a CAGR of 17% to reach $455 billion by 2023.
Who is gig economy for
- Students: Side jobs such as working as a delivery person for e-commerce platforms is a great way to earn pocket money for students. There is a huge demand of delivery persons from online grocery, food, and medicine startups.
- Homemakers: The rise of online startups has made earning from home easier than ever. Homemakers – both men and women – can earn money by doing part-time jobs such as re-selling clothes online from third-party apps, signing up as a home chef and delivering food in small quantities, etc.
- Writers: Companies need good writers to tell their stories to clients, investors, and other people in the industry. If you have a knack for writing and know the importance of a well-narrated story, you can earn a handsome amount of money in 2022.
- Coders: As the number of startups rise in the country, the demand for software developers has also gone up. And while they are looking for full-time professionals, there is an equally high demand for freelance coders.
Gig employees can use Paytm for Freelancers, which has a bouquet of offerings such as the freedom to customise Paytm Pages without any need for coding, create payment links, and raise custom invoices.
Collect payments through Paytm Payment Gateway
Irrespective of the industry you choose to get into in 2022, Paytm Payment Gateway has you covered when it comes to collecting payments through online means.
Paytm Payment Gateway not only allows you to accept money from clients, but it also offers various add-on features such as instant settlements for a small fee, creating digital invoices, getting business analytics to make sense of your earnings, among other things.
Choose which industry suits you better and get on the bandwagon of collecting payments online from Paytm Payment Gateway.
